Floods: Bride loses chance to have photo taken on dias

RAUB: It is every bride's dream of having their photos taken while sitting on their wedding dias, but it was not meant to be for Siti Fazrila Abdul Khairi, 34, as her dias was destroyed when floods hit Kampung Gili Hilir here last Sunday.

Siti Fazrila, a nurse at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur, said that she was already in her bridal outfit and was having her make up done in time for the arrival of guests at 11 am when the incident happened.

"The food for the reception, enough for 300 guests, had also been prepared at around 10 am. We were waiting for the guests to arrive when the water came flooding in and rose to waist level.

"I quickly changed my clothes and stashed the gifts from the groom's family on the cupboard. As for the dias, door gifts and souvenirs, I couldn't even save a single one," she told Bernama.

Siti Fazrila said her house had never been flooded this high before and that the villagers had never expected that a flood could be this bad.

"We were ordered to evacuate to a safe area, and so we took the prepared food along with us to the relief centre.

"I'm very sad with what happened because during my akad nikah (solemnisation of marriage) ceremony, I also wasn't able to take a photo sitting on the dias as it wasn't completed, and then on the day of the reception, it was destroyed," she said, adding that she spent more than RM5,000 on the wedding package.

She said the groom's entourage on their way from their homestay close to the wedding location also got stranded and had to return home to Terengganu later.

Meanwhile, her mother, Anida Mat Tahir, 53, said she accepted what had happened with an open heart.

"We spent over a month preparing but everything that happens has a silver lining, we ended up serving the food intended for the guests to villagers at the relief centre, so it was a celebration in a way...it will surely be an unforgettable memory for our entire family," she said.

-- BERNAMA